Communication networks are widely used today; the variety of networks includes the Internet, wide-area networks (WANs), local-area networks (LANs), telephony networks, and wireless networks. The importance of network monitoring and testing is growing as well as the requirements for related methods and equipment. Of particular importance are distributed test systems and methods relying on a distributed set of devices. Such systems and methods allow for centralized control of multiple test devices, their synchronization, and for receiving results remotely.
In distributed test systems, the devices must be able to communicate over a network, for example using a data link layer address (Ethernet address or MAC Address) or an IP address.
Conventionally, a device in a network requires an IP address to communicate with it over an IP routed network. If a device doesn't have an IP address it can only be communicated with on the local subnet by utilizing MAC level protocols. Some devices, like intelligent network taps, passively tap a network to provide access to the packets and therefore require an IP address and often a separate management network connection. There are disadvantages to having IP addresses on large numbers of devices and separate management networks due to cost and scalability.
In order to minimize the total number of IP addresses required on a network, certain devices such as test devices may be not assigned a unique IP address. Therefore, there is a need to communicate with such unaddressed test devices and to provide a distributed test system including unaddressed test devices, and a method of testing a communication network or device using an unaddressed, yet remotely-controlled test device.
Accordingly, there is a need to mitigate the disadvantages of existing test systems and methods and to provide a novel method and a system for testing a communication network or a device therein.